Returning to Work After a Fertility Appointment: A 10-Minute Transition

Going straight from a scan or a nurses/doctors call into a work meeting is one of the more disorienting parts of doing IVF while working there’s no time to process what just happened, good or bad, before you’re expected to sound normal with everyone around you. Some people may know whats happening, most don’t and honestly dont care, they are so focused on their own stuff in life. This technique takes a few minutes and gives that transition an actual structure, rather than hoping the appointment just fades into the background on its own. We have created this for the moments between, the moments of transition from fertility guru to work guru…

The transition

1. Park it in writing (60 seconds).
Before you do anything else, write one or two sentences about the appointment, what happened, how you feel about it, anything you want to remember to ask or follow up on with your next appointment. This isn’t for anyone else to read. It’s a way of formally “closing the file” for now, rather than leaving it open and half processed in the back of your mind through the rest of your day and then brining it back home to open it all up for the night, again we take from thought to action, mind to paper….

2. The physiological sigh (2 minutes).
Two short inhales through the nose, one long exhale through the mouth. Repeat for two minutes. This is the fastest reliable way to bring the nervous system back to balance, if the appointment left you upside down and inside out. You need to reset, rebalance, recharge….

3. One re entry task (5 minutes).
Pick one small, concrete work task to do first, reviewing your next meeting’s agenda, clearing two to three emails, anything low value. Starting with something small gives your attention a clear, achievable place to land, rather than walking straight into a war room at work.

Why this works

Writing the appointment down, is a well established way to reduce a worry’s tendency to keep resurfacing uninvited thoughts; the mind treats an unresolved concern differently once it’s been processes, again the mind to paper technique. The physiological sigh addresses the physical side directly. And starting back into work with something small gives your attention a manageable re entry point instead of asking it to fully snap back to full capacity in 15 seconds..

Try the guided version in the app
The Appointment to Work session brings together all three steps for you, its useful for that moment in a car park or a bathroom stall between the clinic and your office desk.

Beyond fertility appointments

This same structure works for any hard transition between two very different states, maybe its a a difficult phone call before a meeting, a stressful morning at home before a shift. If it’s useful, it sits alongside the IVF Cycle Support program, where life is life and anything can happen.